Ignacio Gutierrez, Finca El Barrancon - Natural SL28 - El Salvador

Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Gutierrez, a Cup Of Excellence winner, produces this rare and delicious coffee on his 4-hectare farm in La Palma, El Salvador. His dedication to quality has earned him first place in numerous CoE competitions.

Farm: El Barrancon

Altitude: 1500msl

Process: Natural process

Region: Apaneca region

Country: El Salvador

Taste Description: In the cup you will find Orange blossom aroma with notes of dried strawberry, juicy pear, high minerality and an assam tea finish.

Amount: Our specialty coffee range comes in 250-gram jars of whole beans roasted for filter or slightly edgy espresso, packed and shipped on demand for maximum freshness.

Style: These coffees hit the sweet spot between specialty coffee and competition-style coffee, with a taste profile that is both exciting and unique.

Open the jar: When opening the jar, use a steady hand and treat it like a fine bottle of champagne, if you're lucky, you will have the swoooosh and the room will be filled with amazing aromatics.

Story: Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Gutierrez has been able to produce Cup Of Excellence winning coffee in past years on his small 4 hectare farm in La Palma, El Salvador. This coffee represents only 2 hectares of production and is not only amazingly delicious, it is very rare!

Don Ignacio has a long history in farming: Before he started planting coffee in the year 2000, he worked with wood and tomatoes, and started his farms, La Roxanita and Los Pocitos with 500 coffee trees. He grows coffee on about 5 manzanas of rich soil in El Salvador, and has produced fantastic lots year after year: In both 2011 and 2013, his coffees took first place in the CoE competition.

He produces a strong selection of heirloom varieties, processing some as fully washed, and some as honey.

Ignacio Gutiérrez's farmland has grown considerably since he started growing coffee 10 years ago: He now has 18 manzanas, each planted with about 3,000 trees, mostly Pacas, Pacamara, and SL-28 varieties. He employs different processes: Washed, Honey, and Natural, and he dries his coffee on both patios and on raised beds, depending on the process and the climate. Like many producers in this area, his farm has struggled with a little bit of coffee-leaf rust, but it is getting better.

He says that coffee is a very pleasant way of making a life and livelihood, and he appreciates the opportunity to improve his financial standing through coffee. Of course he'd like to sell more and earn higher prices, and with more farms and more plants he hopes to increase his production every year.